Carlos Ruiz Receives High Defensive Grades

by Bill Baer on November 10th, 2010
Posted in MLB, Philadelphia Phillies, Sabermetrics | Print | 5 Comments »

Matt Klaassen posted his catcher defense rankings at Beyond the Box Score. Carlos Ruiz ranked very highly, no surprise there. He finished third overall behind Yadier Molina and Ivan Rodriguez.

Ruiz ranked first in PBWP runs, or the amount of runs saved preventing passed balls and wild pitches. He ranked 22nd out of 120 catchers in CS runs, or runs prevented throwing out runners on the bases.

Back-up catcher Brian Schneider ranked 24th overall in PBWP runs and 73rd in CS runs, good for 27th overall.

Teams with two or more catchers rated as highly as Ruiz and Schneider were the Cincinnati Reds, Houston Astros, Minnesota Twins, and New York Mets.

For the rest of the rankings, check out Matt’s work at BTBS.

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  1. 5 Responses to “Carlos Ruiz Receives High Defensive Grades”

  2. By sean on Nov 10, 2010

    and yet according to jon heyman the phillies are interested in jason veritek!

  3. By Bill Baer on Nov 10, 2010

    Of course. Third-string catchers are all the rage in the National League!

  4. By Dave on Nov 10, 2010

    You can’t put a value on intangibles, Bill.

    Don’t you remember Rex Hudler’s stint as a Phillie?

  5. By Joe Redden on Nov 10, 2010

    The thing that drove me crazy this year was listening to announcer talk about how surprised they were by Ruiz’s hitting. He was always a better hitter than a catcher, he’s just gotten better as a catcher blocking breaking ball craziness. He still doesn’t have the cannon that scares base-stealers like Molina does, but he’s improving.

  6. By bill on Nov 10, 2010

    Ruiz is definitely no Molina in terms of controlling the running game, but he is a really good catcher at the other defensive aspects (blocking pitches, not allowing passed balls, fielding bunts, etc.)

    Definitely one of the best in the league, but again, Molina is one of the best ever.

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